Friday in Victoria, British Columbia

Here we are at Royal Jubilee Hospital in the Clinical Teaching Unit It’s like coming home. In 2011 the Doctors at the “Jube” saved Harold’s life. He had contracted listeria and it had formed a pocket in his aorta that went undetected by blood samples. This caused extreme pain which led to investigations and a CT scan that showed an aortic dissection that was bleeding into his back.

Today when he arrived by ambulance Harold went from a room which was a shared space with curtains separating several patients, and sharing a bathroom, to a private room with a view over Victoria to Mount Baker. The quiet was very welcoming.

A Teaching unit, it wasn’t long until a young resident sat down for an hour and gathered Harold’s medical history, while scanning through the many reports already on his electronic chart from his Cardiologist, his pace maker Doctor, and his infectious disease Doctor. Harold is very articulate when it comes to describing his medical conditions, the resident responded with, “You are complicated.”

Then came a large amount of blood work of every sort, and the last meal before fasting after midnight for whichever tests come tomorrow.

Of course he quickly bonded with his nurse who is in the “left handed club.” It’s really nice to watch how easily Harold endears himself to his medical team, as he is a pleasant and intriguing person wherever he goes.

We are so grateful for the medical system in which we receive the “cutting edge” of medical care. We are also so happy that we were close to home when medical attention was crucial.

This is a different adventure than planned for the summer, but an adventure none the less into the medical world of Marfan’s.